Many of you have asked for a deeper dive on the meaning of “Web Data Services”, so let me answer it here.
First, it’s important to understand the terms “Data Integration” and “Application Integration”.
Data Integration (DI) and (Enterprise) Application Integration (EAI) are not the same, though many vendors often confuse the two. Application Integration focuses on managing transactions or messages between applications while Data Integration focuses on managing the flow of data and providing standardized API’s to access the information. For more details, refer to Mark Madsen’s blog, Key Differences Between Data Integration and App Integration.
There are essentially three different types of Data Integration:
- Consolidation means moving all the data from the original data sources to a new repository, much like an ETL tool.
- Propagation means moving only the necessary data to a local storage for each application consuming the data.
- Federation means leaving the data at the original source and accessing it as needed in real-time.
Web Data Services is in reality all forms of Data Integration as well as Application Integration, with two distinct differences. With Web Data Services:
- You primarily access data and business logic residing on the web (any application or data source you can access from a Web browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari). This includes applications inside your own organization and even at your business partners.
- You do not need to recode or have programmatic access to any of the data sources. As long as you have access from a Web Browser, you can access the data with no coding and be up and running in a matter of hours rather than weeks or months.
Web Data Services is the new highly productive way to access almost any of the data you need for Business Intelligence (BI), Data Validation and Acquisition, Enterprise Mashups, Partner Integration, or basically any solution that needs agile access to data or business logic. Web Data Services gives unheard of business agility and competitive advantage compared to traditional Data Integration or Enterprise Application Integration methods.
Try it free with our Kapow Web Data Server Trial Offer
Also check the Wikipedia entry on Web Data Services to read the definition from leading industry analysts.
By: Stefan Andreasen 
